Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Holly was doing dolphin butterfly strokes. Her red hair popped in and out of the water, her moves fluid and fast. She didn’t see me as I crouched at the edge of the pool. My hands and legs were still shaking but I felt somewhat calmer. Ten minutes passed until Holly eventually stopped at one end of the pool. She pulled her neon yellow goggles off and immediately spotted me. Her face broke into a smile, but just as soon it disappeared. Her narrow brown brows pulled together as she swam toward the ladder and got out. My legs ached when I straightened from my crouch to hand her a towel. Her eyes never left my face as she dried her hair.
“Did something happen between you and Alec?”
“Sort of. Kate and I had a talk,” I said slowly, trying to keep the worry from coloring my voice.
But my emotions were right beneath the surface; Holly could probably see them shining through my skin like neon signs.
“Oh no. What did she do?”
As she threw the towel into the hamper, I couldn’t help but stare just beyond the hamper, at that spot on the ground. That was where Alec had found me a few weeks after I’d joined the FEA, crying hysterically because my mom had said that I should never call her again. Alec had consoled me that day and countless more times since then. What had stopped my tears each time, his words or his Variation? And what about all the times I’d longed for his touch in his presence? Had he felt it?
“Tessa?” Holly touched my arm, leaving fingerprints of water on my shirtsleeve.
I snapped out of my thoughts and turned away from the hamper. Water lapped over the edge of the pool only to be sucked back into the filter system. I slumped down onto a bench against the wall and Holly sank down beside me, shivering in only her yellow bikini.
“Spill,” she demanded, and I told her everything Kate had said.
With every word, my voice got higher, and it felt like a bubble was building inside my body and ready to burst. When I was done, I gulped down a deep breath. I expected, I hoped, Holly would laugh and tell me how ridiculous I was, but she didn’t. Her eyes became distant, a frown creasing her brows.
“Kate might be jealous, and she’s certainly out to hurt Alec, but why would she make up something like that?” she said softly.
I nodded. “It’s not just that. Sometimes when I’m around Alec, my feelings take a quick turn for the better, you know? I always thought it was because of him, because of my feelings for him, but…”
“But now you aren’t sure anymore,” she finished the sentence for me.
Holly gnawed on her lower lip. Water ran down in narrow rivulets over her face and arms. She’d probably get a cold if I kept her from changing into proper clothes for much longer.
“You know how my Variation is always messing up?”
I gave a nod; of course, I knew.
“Major made me take all these additional classes with Summers, but they didn’t really help. With every class, I felt more like a total failure and kept messing up even worse. But then one day Major sent Alec in Summers’s stead, and magically my mood and my Variation improved. Remember when I told you afterward how amazing classes had been that day?”
I didn’t move. I remembered. Holly hadn’t lost control of her Variation once that day. She was as happy as I’d ever seen her.
“I’d felt calm and sure of myself, and suddenly my invisibility worked without fault. I’d thought it was because Alec wasn’t making me as nervous as Summers, but now that I think about it, I’m not really sure if my emotions that day were entirely my own.”
I stared down at my palms, which were red from clenching my hands. “It sounds exactly like what I’d been experiencing.”
“I—hmm… maybe.” Holly was fishing for explanations, for excuses, but there were none. “Do you think Major knows?”
I smiled mirthlessly. “Major knows everything.”
Holly nodded. “Yeah, he probably thinks we don’t need to know. He always knows best.” The last part rang with bitterness. I got it. I really got it. I was so tired of being treated like a second class agent, like I couldn’t handle the same knowledge that Major or Alec or even Kate could.
“I have to talk to Alec.”
“Are you positive? If you confront Alec, he’s going to give you an answer, whether you like it or not.” Holly wrapped her arm around me. I shivered as my clothes got soaked through and the cold crawled into my body.
“I know. But I have to know for sure. I have to hear him say it. I can’t just forget what Kate said. Who knows, maybe there’s an explanation.”